"This castle is haunted anyway, there's nothing scary about it," Draco retorted.
Harry had no time to joke with him.
His face had turned pale, his index finger was pointed tightly at the dark ceiling above him, and his tone became increasingly urgent:
"That voice! It's back— the Parseltongue! It's moving towards the castle!"
The moment those words were spoken, everyone in the room froze.
Ron's eyes widened. " Parseltongue?! You heard that again?!"
Hermione tensed up, feeling a chill run up the back of her neck; hearing Parseltongue was eerie enough in itself.
Draco was completely stunned upon hearing this.
Parseltongue?
The Chamber of Secrets... is it open?
impossible!
He should have personally handed that diary to Dumbledore long ago, thus eliminating all potential threats.
A ridiculous yet chilling thought instantly rushed to his head:
Could it be... that Dumbledore has been controlled by someone?
His gaze instinctively swept sharply towards the High Table.
Dumbledore was sitting there quietly.
Their eyes met briefly.
Draco immediately cursed inwardly as outrageous.
Are you out of your mind?
With the remnants of Dark Magic, he thought he could control Dumbledore? He knew best how absurd that idea was.
But if it's not like that,
He had clearly solved the problem of the Chamber of Secrets, so who opened it again?
He subtly withdrew his gaze.
Just as Draco was filled with doubt and uncertainty...
A piercing, high-pitched scream suddenly erupted outside the Great Hall, like a sharp knife piercing through the room's aroma of pumpkins and cheerful laughter.
" --Mrs. Norris! My Mrs. Norris!!" That was Filch's voice.
The entire Hogwarts Great Hall fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone turned sharply to look in the direction of the gate.
Harry's face turned deathly pale, a chill creeping up from the depths of his heart instantly freezing his limbs: that voice... that thing moving upwards... had already made its move.
"That's Filch! Something's happened!" Ron jumped to his feet.
Hermione's heart sank, and she instinctively grabbed Draco's sleeve.
She didn't know what had happened, but the despair in that scream sent chills down her spine.
The next second, Filch stumbled into the Great Hall, his face ashen, his eyes bloodshot, pointing out into the corridor, his voice trembling uncontrollably:
"The corridor... the second-floor corridor! Mrs. Norris is dead!"
"Dead!" Hermione repeated, then gasped, her face turning deathly pale.
The surrounding students erupted in an uproar, their horrified whispers filling the air. Harry stared intently at the doorway, feeling a chill run through his body.
The thing that screamed in his head, "Murder... it's time," actually appeared.
Draco wasn't too panicked, but a thought still crossed his mind: the Chamber of Secrets... had been opened after all.
The Great Hall was in complete chaos, with students whispering amongst themselves in panic.
The light from the jack-o'-lantern flickered across their pale faces, and fear spread rapidly like ink dripping into water.
Professor McGonagall immediately stood up, her voice stern as she maintained order. Snape's cold gaze swept across the room, finally settling on Harry with scrutiny and suspicion.
Dumbledore remained quietly seated in the main seat, his light blue eyes piercing through the crowd and gently landing on Draco.
Without the diary as the primary source, everyone knew that Draco could open the Chamber of Secrets because there was only one person in the entire Great Hall.
Harry...
But Harry had no idea about this!
But besides him, who else can understand Parseltongue now?
Draco was too lazy to think about it anymore.
Just then, Dumbledore slowly stood up, his voice suppressing all panic.
"Students, please be quiet. Now, the Prefect will lead their respective students back to their dormitories immediately. No one is allowed to linger in the corridors."
The crowd began to rise in a flurry, robes rustling, footsteps clattering, and murmurs rising like a swarm of bees to a boil.
Harry remained frozen in place, his face pale, the Parseltongue echoing repeatedly in his mind.
All he knew was that a terrible thing roamed the castle, and only he could hear its voice.
" Harry, let's go! The Prefect is urging us!" Ron pulled him back.
Hermione nervously looked around, her mind filled with unresolved questions.
Petrification, eerie sounds, Harry's sudden erratic behavior... none of this made sense to her.
Draco stood still.
His gaze swept indifferently over the panicked students, finally settling calmly on the old man on the platform.
Hermione tugged at Draco's sleeve. "We should go too."
Just as Draco was about to take a step, all eyes on him fell upon him from the platform, as if calling out a name.
Draco paused.
The next second, Dumbledore raised his chin, gesturing towards the side door of the Great Hall.
That was a secluded corridor leading to the Headmaster's Office.
Draco understood.
He grabbed Hermione's wrist tightly with his other hand.
Hermione was taken aback and was about to ask him what he was going to do when Draco stopped her with a look.
"Don't ask any questions yet, just come with me," he said in a low voice, speaking rapidly.
Hermione also sensed something unusual about Draco, which made him show such an expression and even offer to take her along.
That must be a huge secret that's all tied to Harry's Parseltongue, Filch's screams, and Mrs. Norris's petrification.
She didn't struggle; instead, she quietly moved closer to Draco, trying to make herself inconspicuous.
The two pretended to evacuate with the other students, but as the crowd turned a corner, they used their robes to suddenly veer and slip silently into the shadow of the side door that Dumbledore had indicated.
There was complete silence behind the door, with only the flickering of the fireplace.
Before long, footsteps slowly approached from the end of the corridor.
Dumbledore walked over alone, his robes fluttering gently in the dim firelight.
He saw Hermione next to Draco and was not surprised.
"I think you must have something to say to me, Draco."
"Isn't it you who has something to ask me, Old Dumbledore?" Draco retorted with a smile.
Hermione was stunned. He was probably the only one in the entire Hogwarts who dared to speak to Dumbledore like that.
To everyone's surprise, Dumbledore simply smiled and said, "Asking and speaking are essentially the same thing."
then.
He stepped slightly to the side, making way for the stairs. "This isn't the place to talk. Let's go to the Headmaster's Office."
Draco understood, gently took Hermione's wrist, and led her to follow behind Dumbledore.
The journey was quiet.
Entering the Headmaster's Office, I closed the door, completely shutting out the panic and noise outside.
Dumbledore went around to the desk and sat down, placing his fingers on the table like a house, then looked at the two people sitting side by side with him.
Draco was relaxed, while Hermione sat upright, listening intently, as quiet as if she didn't exist.
"I've kept that diary you handed in carefully, and it's never left my sight," Dumbledore said calmly. "But just now... you saw what happened in the castle."
"I know. The Chamber of Secrets is open after all. I'm just as confused as you are now."
Hermione listened quietly, her mind reeling.
A diary? Chamber of Secrets? What secret is this?
Dumbledore, as if he had expected this answer, and asked again, "Then who do you think it could be?"